Xinshan ZhuangThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Yuhan Hao, Duan Yang, and Zhuona Chen
School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, Hubei Province, China
Received: August 26, 2025 Accepted: March 5, 2026 Publication Date: April 8, 2026
Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.
To address serviceability issues of railway subgrades in Central China subjected to dynamic loading, this study investigated the dynamic behavior and microstructural mechanisms of nanoclay-modified, cement-stabilized silty clay. Specimens with var-ying nanoclay contents were prepared and tested using a dynamic triaxial apparatus, and cumulative plastic strain and dynamic elastic modulus were measured. Micro-structural and mineralogical characteristics were examined by scanning electron mi-croscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that cumulative plastic strain increased with dynamic stress amplitude, whereas dynamic elastic modulus decreased. By contrast, increasing nanoclay content reduced cumulative plastic strain and increased dynamic elastic modulus, with 0.5% identified as the optimum content; beyond 0.5%, the marginal benefit diminished. Relative to cement-stabilized soil without nanoclay, cumulative plastic strain decreased by approximately 35−50%, while dynamic elastic modulus increased by about 75−82%. Microstructurally, nanoclay promoted the formation of C−(A)−S−H, reduced porespace, and densified the inter facial transition zone. These findings elucidate the governing trends in the dynamic response of nanoclay-modified silty clay and provide a basis for the design of nanoclay-modified railway subgrades in Central China.
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